


From Ashes to Bones

by StrawberryLane



Series: The roughest crew afloat [1]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assumptions, F/M, Gen, Hostage Situations, Kidnapping, POV Outsider, Rhett assumes he knows whats going on, Rhett wants revenge, Theatre, he doesn't really, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 21:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11723313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryLane/pseuds/StrawberryLane
Summary: What you shouldn't have forgotten, Rhett chides himself, is that such a large part of piracy is based in theatre.





	From Ashes to Bones

**Author's Note:**

> So, I discovered that Colonel William Rhett was an actual historical person, living in Charlestown. He really had a small fleet consisting of the Henry and the Sea Nymph and hunted pirates in 1716. He captured Stede Bonnet, also known as "the gentleman pirate".
> 
> There's a character in this called Mr Smollett, this is not the Captain Smollett that is featured in Treasure Island, they just happen to share a name.

 

The cannonball from the Spanish man O' war commandeered by Flint's crew nearly takes Rhett's life when it hits the docks. Those few seconds before he lost consciousness are seconds Rhett will never forget, not for as long as he lives. The pain had been unimaginable, tearing through his body as fast as wildfire. His body, he learns later, had been a mess of wounds, partly buried beneath the rubble caused by the cannonball.

It takes him almost six months of constant bed rest to feel even remotely functional again. He's lost most of his sense of touch in the left side of body. His face has been left disfigured, his nose is crooked and he can't control the left side of his mouth. It has left him looking as if he's constantly sneering mockingly at people.

All in all, Rhett thinks, he got off lightly. He's not dead and he hasn't had to lose any of his limbs. Not like Everett, who initially had survived the blast, only to succumb to death three days later when the surgeon made the call to remove what was left of the poor bastards legs.

But Rhett, he survives. Mostly out of spite, really, because he will not give someone like James Flint the satisfaction of knowing Rhett lies buried six feet under. And those months spent in bed, with Sarah by his side, coddling him like the mother she's always wanted to be instead of like the wife that she is, they bring a want of revenge with them. Because killing Lord Ashe and destroying Charles Town wasn't enough for the pirate captain. No, he had to cause even more harm and destruction before leaving Rhett's town in flames. After killing Lord Ashe, James Flint didn't make for the harbour at once. Instead, he took a detour, returning to Lord Ashe's home.

Abigail Ashe should have been safely in Savannah at that point but she wasn't. The details on why weren't exactly clear because the maid tasked with sending miss Ashe on her journey was inconsolable at her questioning. Miss Ashe, she said, had prolonged their depart from Charles Town because she wanted to say goodbye to her father and had resolved to wait when the man had already left for the town square.

Instead, they had gotten James Flint.

The man had turned up at the house, barged through their meagre defences and into miss Ashe's bedroom, where the maid made a valiant effort to conceal her charge from being found. Flint, the maid tells Rhett, hadn't even looked at her. Instead he had gone straight for Abigail's place of hiding, roughly grabbed her by the arm and hauled her out from underneath the bed.

The maid doesn't remember anything else, expect for the sound of panicked screaming, because she'd fainted right at that moment. When she woke up, both miss Ashe and the pirate were missing and Charles Town was in ruins.

Nearly a year later, Rhett has finally succeeded in finding Flint and his crew. The man will have to pay dearly for the crimes he's committed, Rhett resolves.

*

Flint should've known better, really, than to think he could outrun or outfight Captain William Rhett's small flotilla; the Henry and the Sea Nymph each have eight guns and a crew between 60 to 70 men. Instead, the man had tried to battle, because the word "surrender" was apparently not a word found in his vocabulary. It had taken him nearly five hours of battle before admitting defeat.

A pity, indeed. Most of his crew is dead and the few who survived have been securely chained up beneath the deck of the Sea Nymph. The captain himself has been stowed away in a cell made especially for him aboard the Henry, chained from head to toe. Never let it be said that William Rhett doesn't take care of his guests. Flint even has a chair in his cell and that's more luxury than the rest of the bastards on the Sea Nymph could ever get. No, they have to make do with small spaces, rats and filthy darkness.

Flint is bleeding from a wound in his chest, one eye is swollen shut from where someone hit him in the face with the back en of a gun and his clothes are bloodied and torn. Despite all this, the man still manages to make all of it seem like a minor inconvenience when Rhett finally makes his way down to visit him in his cell.

"Captain James Flint," Rhett remarks when he's come to a stop in front of the bars surrounding the man's prison. It was built specifically with the pirate captain in mind, so Rhett made sure there would be no private space. The last thing Rhett needs is for Flint to have a private space in which to plot.

"Colonel Rhett," Flint drawls back, reclining as best he can in his chair. It looks uncomfortable, Rhett thinks with glee.

"I've come to inform you that you and your men will be taken back to Charles Town where all of you will stand trial for numerous crimes, two of which are high seas piracy and the kidnapping of miss Abigail Ashe."

"So really you've just come to gloat."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I know all this. My crew know all of this. We will hang for the crimes we've committed, it's the logical assumption to make from the beginning. So what you're really doing here is gloating. You want me to know that you, Colonel Rhett, was the one to capture us. And I can assure you, colonel, that I won't be forgetting that in the first place."

*

When they find her, hidden away deep beneath the deck of the Spanish man o'war, Abigail Ashe screams and claws at the faces of the men closest to her. The dress she's wearing is dirty and frayed around the edges, but otherwise she looks about as clean as one can hope to be aboard a ship like this. She's pale as snow and she's got a bruise on her cheek and scar just above her eyebrow. It's a thin line, long since healed, but Rhett knows it wasn't there the last time he saw her.

Bloody pirates.

"It's all right miss," Mr Dorothy tries to soothe the hysterical girl, "we're the good guys. We won't hurt you."

That stills her, and Rhett takes the moment to reintroduce himself to her. They've met before, but only briefly; Lord Ashe wanted to keep his daughter as far away from the pirate Flint and his mistress once they came ashore. Rhett, of course, had been stationed outside the room in which the negotiation between his late boss and the pirate had taken place.

"I remember you," Abigail says. "You killed lady Hamilton." She's staring up at him, no longer paying Mr Dorothy any mind. Mr Dorothy, because he is a practical man, takes the opportunity to cut the rope that has been tied around miss Abigail's waist, effectively keeping her chained to the wall, as if she's some kind of animal.

Rhett has to admit that yes, he killed lady Hamilton. It had been a necessary thing to do. The woman had, after all, repeatedly threatened Lord Ashe and what kind of man would Rhett be if he didn't make good of his own threat in retaliation?

"I'm sorry," he tells miss Abigail as Mr Dorothy helps the shaking girl up. "It wasn't my intention going in."

It's a lie, of course it is, and Rhett gets the uncomfortable feeling Abigail is more than aware of it. "Well then," he says, to signal that the subject has been closed, "shall we?"

He gestures upwards, towards the deck. Abigail nods once and, on Mr Dorothy's arm, makes her way toward the stairs. The sunlight is blinding, unforgiving, and she squints as the rays hits her face, one hand coming up to shield her face.

"It'll probably take some getting used to, miss," says Mr Dorothy. "But I can assure you that you'll be able to spend plenty of time outside during our journey back to Charles Town."

They install her in Rhett's cabin. If this had been a normal trading ship, she would've gotten her own cabin, but on the Henry private cabins are in short supply and it certainly won't do to have her bunk with the crew. Her reputation may be in tatters after spending so many months in the company of pirates, but Rhett will do his best to help her restore what little of it can be restored. It won't be much, but perhaps he will be able to find some moderately wealthy, slightly desperate man to marry her off to once they reach their port. Being taken prisoner by the worst scum on earth is hardly Abigail's fault, Rhett thinks, but that doesn't mean she won't be the one to face the consequences.

"Do you think they touched her," Mr Dorothy murmurs as they make their way back outside, having left Abigail to wash up in private.

"She spent almost a year in their company and this is the crew of Captain James Flint. The stories have it even the devil himself would have feared to sail with them. These are not men, Mr Dorothy, but savages. They plunder and raid with little regard for anyone else. I think if Flint, in some personal vendetta against her father, decided to throw miss Ashe to his men, there would be very little she could do to save herself."

*

After much thought, Rhett decides to leave Flint's ship adrift. The black flag is left half-mast, a dead man tied to the main mast to signify to anyone brave – or foolish – enough to come close that this is a dead ship left to her own devices. It's a warning sign to other pirates. _"This is what happens if you cross Colonel William Rhett."_

Or perhaps it'll be the beginning of a ghost story.

Abigail is not a big talker, by any means. She seems to prefer to keep to Rhett's cabin, staying well away from his crew. She quietly asks for paper and a quill on the first day of their journey and spends most of her time writing when Rhett produces those items for her. Rhett lets her. She did the exact same thing the first time she travelled with Flint to Charles Town, Rhett recalls. Her diary was what Charles Vane brought to Flint's trial to offer another point of view on the man. Back then, her diary had portrayed these pirates as men, but Rhett doubts that will be the case this time. On that journey, the pirates had had an ulterior motive in keeping Abigail feeling relatively safe in their company; Flint wanting to make a favourable deal with Lord Ashe. This time tough, there won't have been any such motive to keep her safe from the men. Her father is dead and buried and as far as Rhett knows Abigail Ashe has no one else in the world to turn to; no one who could be expected to pay ransom.

He'll have to take a look at her diary before they reach Charles Town, he concludes. Just to see if there's anything in there that can be used as evidence against the man chained up below deck.

Abigail looks better as each day goes by. Her old dress has been thrown away, instead she's dressed in clothes Rhett took the liberty of raiding her closet off before beginning his journey on the off chance they'd find her alive. Her hair is neatly tied into a braid and the colour returns to her cheeks. She eats like a starved man instead of a lady, but that's something they'll have to work on before they reach their harbour. For her to have chance of a profitable marriage, Rhett thinks, she'll need to show any suitors she may have that spending a year in the company of pirates didn't relieve her of her manners even if it may have relieved her of her virtue.

While Abigail spends her time becoming accustomed to being free once again, Rhett pays regular visits to her kidnapper. He has no reason to do so personally, really, aside from the fact that he enjoys looking at how the man becomes more and more broken the closer they get to Charles Town and the trial that awaits him. At first, Flint had threatened and lunged at him whenever Rhett stepped in view of his cage, but now, as days have gone by, he simply lolls his head from one side to the other, his back against the wall. The chair Rhett so generously gifted him with is long since destroyed in a fit of anger, its pieces still littering the deck. It's Flint's own fault, really, that he has to sit on the floor and eat his meals like a dog.

His chains are heavy and prevent him from moving much at all, he can't even pace the small space of his cell. Still – and Rhett has to give it to him – the man hasn't lost his spirit entirely yet. He still manages to stare into Rhett with those devil eyes of his, to stare into Rhett's very soul as he offhandedly asks about miss Ashe and her whereabouts, smiling nastily as he does. He stares as he asks for the weather, how Rhett's crew are handling the sea and so on. It's all a pointless drivel that does nothing other than waste Rhett's time really. Rhett suspects the man wants to fuck with him in any way he can, just to be a pain in the ass.

Still, he can't help but going back each day.

*

They're two days out of Charles Town when Abigail acts. She's been dithering back and forth for the last few days, acting much like Rhett's own Sarah does when she wants something from him but doesn't know how he'll react. Abigail bites her cheek, her face turning scarlet when Rhett finally takes pity on her and asks what it is she requires.

"There's someone I would like to-" she cuts herself off, her attention returning to the stew on her plate. Rhett nods at her to continue. They're in his cabin, the night falling outside the windows and Mr Dorothy left in charge of the crew for the rest of the night.

"There's someone I'd like to see, if I may, Colonel," Abigail finally tells him as Rhett chews on a bread roll.

"Who is that, if I may ask?"

Abigail swallows visibly, her hands disappearing into her lap, bunching up her skirts.

"His name is Billy, sir. He's one of the survivors-"

"Yes, I know," Rhett tells her. "May I ask why?"

"He... He was nice to me, sir. Protected me from the men who wanted to harm me. I'd like to thank him before he hangs." The colour has risen on her cheeks again, standing out even more than usual against her pale skin and big eyes.

Hmm.

"I'll see what I can do," Rhett tells her. He can't outright forbid her to see this man, because he's not her legal guardian and besides, if he forbids her, all she has to do is ask Mr Dorothy, who, despite the wishes of his superior, will take Abigail aboard the Sea Nymph to see the man known as Billy Bones. Damn Dorothy and his weakness for Abigail Ashe.

*

Rhett sends Abigail off to the Sea Nymph in a longboat, accompanied by Mr Dorothy. It's not that he thinks anything will happen. It's just better to be safe than sorry. He has sent word to Mr Smollett, than man tasked with captaining the Sea Nymph to remove Billy Bones from the rest of the crew, making sure Abigail doesn't have to spend any time in the company of the rest of Mr Flint's crew. Bones will be chained for the duration of Abigail's visit and kept out of reach. Rhett trusts Mr Smollett's judgement, but that doesn't mean he doesn't spend Abigail's visit to the Sea Nymph with a spyglass attached to his eye.

His worry is probably why things go wrong from the first moment. Rhett can only watch helplessly as Abigail reaches out for Billy Bones, enveloping the giant man in a hug before turning around and letting herself be held close by the pirate. Rhett doesn't know where Billy Bones found a knife, but somehow he did and it swiftly finds its way to Abigail's throat, effectively keeping Rhett's men at bay. They all have their guns trained on the man and his hostage though, which is a small blessing.

Rhett obviously can't hear what is being said, but he can watch as Mr Smollett reluctantly holds out his keys to Bones and how Abigail accepts them before being dragged below deck by her captor.

Shit.

It's a good thing there weren't many survivors of Flint's crew; only a handful, including a cripple and a surgeon. The surgeon had been drafted into the crew of Rhett's fleet after pleading with Rhett and Mr Smollett that he has had nothing to do with the pirates; he'd been forced into the crew by Flint he said, once the pirate found out Howell was a surgeon and Rhett is inclined to believe him. If it was him, he'd like to think he'd chose death above joining a pirate crew, but not all men are as brave as him. Some will do just about anything to save their own skin and Howell is clearly one of them.

Rhett orders for the Henry to be brought up alongside the Sea Nymph, all while continuing to watch the other ship through his spyglass. He's on his way over to the Sea Nymph when something catches his attention. The cripple is making his way over to Howell, no chains in sight. He's wandering across the deck as he pleases and not one person is even batting an eyelid at the sight.

What the hell?

He asks Mr Smollett as much when the man comes over to greet him. "Says he was forced to join Flint's crew, Colonel. And Mr Howell vouches for him."

"He does, does he? And what, may I ask, made you so sure he's telling the truth? What if he's only telling you that to have access to your men to make them switch sides?"

"His name is John Silver, colonel. And I have no doubt in him. See how he's missing his leg? He says Flint was the one who cut it off. We all know what that man is capable off; I don't doubt for a minute he would cut the leg of a crew member if it suited his purposes. It is, after all, in the realm of possibility when it comes to madman like Flint."

Rhett can't quite believe what he's hearing. What had possessed him to leave a fool like Mr Smollett in charge of the Sea Nymph in the first place?

"Excuse me," the voice of the man they have just been discussing cuts in and Rhett turns to face the man. John Silver is leaning heavily on a crutch, out of breath simply from hobbling from one side of the ship to the other.

"I believe I can be of assistance to you, Colonel Rhett," he continues. "I spent months with the men currently below deck, I know them better than they know themselves."

"So what do you suggest we do? They'll be free of their chains by now, and have access to the armoury." Rhett grimaces. Why hadn't he seen that before they set sail? It would've been much better to store all the weapons in Mr Smollett's cabin.

"I suggest you send me down there to talk to them, to come up with a bargain. They still think I'm loyal to them and I'm sure I can persuade them to let the girl go. After that, you can shoot them on sight. It's not as if they all need to stand trial in Charles Town, you only really need Flint for that."

"And why should I trust you? What's to say you won't simply join them once you get below deck?"

Silver snorts.

"Simple," he says. "I have no desire to die. If I join them again now, I'll die as surely as the sun is bright. And then there's the small matter of Flint being the reason I'm an invalid. I have no loyalty left to that man."

Rhett mulls this over. It's not much of a plan as far as plans go, but it's the only one they have. Rhett needs both his ships, he can't simply get the Sea Nymph's crew over to the Henry and leave the Sea Nymph to be managed by a handful of pirates, even if they would have a large amount of trouble managing her. He needs both ships because both of the crews together would be too cramped for just the Henry. There'd be no space left. And then there's the small matter of Abigail Ashe, once again taken captive by pirates. Rhett begins to wonder if the girl is just seriously unlucky or if it's something else entirely.  
  


He's just about to order Silver down to where Bones and the rest of the crew is hiding when he hears a cut off scream behind him. Whirling around, he sees Silver standing above the now probably dead Mr Smollett, the man bleeding from a wound to his temple. Silver grins at Rhett and thumps his crutch against the deck twice.

"Gentlemen," he says in the absolute silence that follows, "this has gone on for long enough. I think it's time for you to stop sailing underneath men like Mr Smollett and Colonel Rhett, men who only have their own interest at heart. Don't you?"

"These men are tyrants," he continues as he hobbles past Mr Smollett and toward Rhett, "and they only care for themselves. Do you know what the real purpose of this journey was? The reason why you lost a good amount of your crew in battle against my brothers? It's simple, gentlemen. I'm sure Colonel Rhett told you it would be an adventure, a mission of justice. To save a fair maiden, a damsel in distress, to get revenge on the man that destroyed your town at his trial. It's not. Colonel Rhett let your friends and brothers die in battle simply because he wanted revenge. Not for Charles Town, I believe. No, Colonel Rhett is a man vain enough to want revenge for a stray cannonball disfiguring his face. What happened to Abigail Ashe was of no real concern to him."

Murmurs tears through the crowd, growing stronger the closer they get to Rhett.

"Now, men," Silver shouts as he comes to a stop next to Rhett,"join me and my brothers and we'll show you what freedom is really like! You will no longer have to slave away under shit wages and terrible conditions while men like Mr Smollett enjoy smoked ham and fine wine in their cabins. You will be drinking that wine for yourself. All you have to do is dispose of your captain!"

The murmurs rise to a jumbled shouting among both the Henry's and the Sea Nymph's crews.

"What have you done?!" Rhett can't breath. His whole world has come to a screeching halt, frozen to ice in the matter of minutes.

"Originally, I was gonna let Billy's dumb plan pan out, but I'm nothing if not an opportunist," Silver tells Rhett as he comes to a stop next to the colonel. "If I see an opportunity, I have to take it. Can't help myself, really."

"Your crew has been dissatisfied with you since you left Charles Town. Are you really so blind as to not see that? All it took was a few words here and there and you've got a mutiny on your hands. You have been weighed, you have been measured and you have been found wanting, Mr Rhett."

"How does miss Ashe play into this?" Rhett asks, feeling strangely calm in the face of men previously loyal to him.

"I'm sorry?"

"When Bones took her, she appeared to go willingly. Why?"

"She's been willing since Charles Town, colonel. Love is a strange thing indeed."

"Love?" Rhett can't help but gape at that. Abigail Ashe, daughter of a lord, in love with a simple pirate?

"Why do you think she came back to us after Charles Town? And I should probably ask you to refer to her by her new name; Mrs Manderly. It's only proper, after all."

"So why was she chained up below deck when we found her then?"

"A ruse, if you will. We figured that if you found her loyal to us, she'd be hanged as well. Billy wouldn't stand for it, so he came up with the idea that we'd pretend she'd been a prisoner all along. And nothing screams captive as much as being found tied to the wall and being scared of any man who comes within arm's length of you. Don't you agree?"

What you shouldn't have forgotten, Rhett chides himself, is that such a large part of piracy is based in theatre.

It's a bit of an anticlimax after that. Rhett is many things, but with most of the crew on Silver's side – including Mr Dorothy – and Mr Smollett dead, there's not much Rhett can do. He's not willing to die, when it comes down to it. Silver releases Flint from his cell and orders everyone now loyal to his captain over to the Henry. The men who decided to stay loyal to Rhett are put in longboats to fend for themselves.

Rhett himself is chained to the mainmast of the Sea Nymph and left to drift across the ocean.

It is, he supposes, poetic justice. That doesn't mean it stings any less, though.

"First order of business," Rhett hears Flint address his new crew on the Henry, voice booming. "No one touches Abigail, unless your name is Billy Bones."

The crew's leering cheers grow louder and louder and Rhett catches a glimpse of Abigail Bones standing in the middle of the group, blushing scarlet as her husband reaches down to squeeze her hand.

  


**Author's Note:**

> The line "the stories have it even the devil himself would have feared to sail with them." is basically a quote from Treasure Island. The actual quote is this: "They were the roughest crew afloat, was Flint's; the devil himself would have been feared to go to sea with them," and the one who says it is Long John Silver while Jim Hawkins is hiding in the apple barrel. 
> 
> "You have been weighed, you have been measured and you have been found wanting," is another quote, but this one is not from Treasure Island but from a movie called the Knight's Tale. It's a really good movie.


End file.
